Chicken Fever

Legally Rambling (9/28/2009). When I was a kid, I had a lot of pets: rabbits, dogs, cats, turtles, snakes, ducks, fish, crabs and even sea monkeys. I still have a lot of pets - my house is a virtual zoo. I like to think my love of animals and gardening stems from my Jeffersonian roots. So when my boys started arguing for a rabbit a few days ago, I thought perhaps I could stall them by talking hutch design. So they set off to design the perfect hutch and I thought perhaps I could stall until Easter. Then my father took my son to North Haven Gardens in Dallas to look at a chicken coop which he probably thought could inspire some new design for a rabbit hutch. What was he thinking!

Now why would a garden store have a chicken coop? Good question. However, what you may not know is that urban chicken farming is all the rage in Dallas, particularly Old East Dallas. Legally, the decision of North Haven Gardens to sell chickens this past summer sent Dallas city officials looking for answers. The decision actually presents a very interesting zoning question if you care to research it. So can you sell chickens in Dallas? In August, the answer came back - Yes! An interesting legal issue because the explosive growth of urban chicken farming has outpaced the ability of most cities to enact regulations and deal with enforcement issues.

The next question that people ask is whether it is legal to actually have chickens in Dallas. The answer again is Yes!, it's legal to have hens in Dallas; however, roosters are banned because they are used for cockfighting and are noisy. Some love the trend arguing it's just an extension of organic gardening. Others hate it citing concerns for noise, odor and sanitation.

Now, the hens cost about $15 - $40 depending on the breed and can live for about ten years. Not bad if they can lay an egg a day - I doubt this claim. I haven't read alot about fried chicken when reviewing materials for this post - so who knows?

So will my neighbors see a rabbit hutch or chicken coop in my back yard. Perhaps both ... Ramble on!